Balance Bracelet Bogus

You Paid How Much for That?

I was watching the NBA finals the other day and I was wondering what the shiny bracelets on all of the players were. When I got to my local climbing gym later that day to work out, I saw two people with the bracelets and decided to ask what they were for. They said (like regurgitating a cult mantra) that they increased physical performance, balance, and overall wellness. This was all accomplished through a dime-sized piece of mylar and a microchip that “regulated your body’s vibrations” (of course they do). Not only that but they also “made sure that your body is resonating at the correct frequency by aligning your atoms in the correct manor”.

Any scientifically educated reader will quickly recognize the copious amount of bogus buzz words and scam talk frequently used by new age cultists. However, it is easy to fall victim to their circular and fragile logic when not informed, so let’s get started.

On the more harmless end, a friend commented on how so many people have the bracelets and how so many people could fall for something that is supposedly a scam. This is a common logical fallacy called argument from popularity, which states that just because something is popular doesn’t mean that it is true or that it works. Mass delusions are always out there, and wishful thinking is usually enough to persuade a person for the quick magic fix without evaluating its claims. The main reason I get so wound up about this issue is that it has crossed the line from harmless nonsense to charging over 90$ for such garbage.

Most people want to believe this kind of thing is possible. The people who sell this nonsense know that[…]They are either self-delusional[…]or they are willingly scamming you.

Next, the modality of performance. A simple question that is good to ask anyone making a claim is not what the product does, buthow it accomplishes the claimed effect. While the two individuals were able to memorize what the bracelets do, they were unable to say how. How does a piece a Mylar and a microchip regulate frequency you ask? They don’t and they can’t. There is nothing that can physically make this possible for a number of reasons:

I’m Getting Those Good Vibrations

Sadly, there is no such thing as a body frequency. Nothing that can be measured and nothing that can be interacted with. Ask yourself, if all the world’s scientists haven’t discovered or verified anything like this, how likely is it that some small company has discovered and mass produced a Nobel prize worthy discovery for 90$? “Frequency” and “vibration” are classic new age buzzwords that sound enticing but have no basis in reality. They obviously have taken the common knowledge of say, a glass can vibrate and break at certain frequencies and extrapolated this into the realm human use with no evidence, efficacy, or legitimacy.

Secondly, there is no way that the Power Balance bracelet can align your atoms. One, this would instantly reduce you to a pile of protoplasm, as molecules and atomic structures form in complex webs and clusters, not perfect lines. Two, the amount of power that would be required to align your atoms would require a bracelet with a magnet in it the size of your water heater. Do you know how much power it take to move your atoms significantly? A level equivalent to 16,000,000 times the Earth’s magnetic field! Thirdly, how would alignment of atoms translate to improved performance? There is no mechanism that links the microscopic alignment of atoms to the macroscopic metric of human performance. Before arguing with me over atomic structures, shouldn’t you know how they work? (talking to you gym guys)

Finally, the testing that is used to convince people of the power of these bracelets has been thoroughly debunked. Both of the followers at the gym tried these tests on me, all which were copied from the scamming techniques of applied kinesiology. These techniques rely on specifically varying application of pressures, and I learned how to fool people with this technique in about 2 minutes (I have in fact fooled every single person I have tried the test on). It may sound inconsequential, but when a person is not thinking critically, and not recognizing the tricks, the next step is they take your money. Any effect that is seen is merely placebo, if someone tells you that you are going to see an effect and then controls the testing by influencing the balance themselves with no scientific blinding, placebo will explain any positive outcome. It is akin to unknowingly taking sugar pills for a headache and having the headache disappear. The mind/body relationship is powerful enough to accomplish this, but not powerful enough to change the physiology required to create frequency or align atoms.

What Skeptics Can Do

This link is to a video showing how Australian skeptics simply and effectively showed how the bracelets do not work. It only took a simple blinded test to show how the bracelets give absolutely no effect. And as is the case with most all pseudoscience, a simple double blinded test is all that is required to render the modality ineffectual.

I’m not trying to sound arrogant, but I find that most of these arguments stem from the lack of general science knowledge. Of course it would be great to buy a simple bracelet and to have better athletic performance; most people want to believe that kind of thing is possible. The people who sell this nonsense know that. They are either self-delusional to the point that any evidence against them will have no effect, or they are willingly scamming you. Watch the video or related videos and try to learn the trick yourself. Not only will you be inoculated against that kind of scam, but if you already have a bracelet, do a simple blinded test and see if they really work. They won’t, I’ve tried. I’ve put rocks in people’s hands and they have had the same results that the bracelets claim. Magic rocks? No. Bogus bracelets? Yes.

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17 thoughts on “Balance Bracelet Bogus”

"They obviously have taken the common knowledge of say, a glass can vibrate and break at certain frequencies and extrapolated this into the realm human use with no evidence, efficacy, or legitimacy."If this is where they get their logic from, then I think we need to be worried. Is their ultimate plan to have enough people with the same "natural frequency" that they can play a certain tone throughout a city and have people spontaneously explode?http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1977#comic

A good goal, but then we are stooping to their level of science fraud, which is not an option for us. However, the “skepticbros” from Australia are selling “placebo bands” that look just like the balance bracelets and the proceeds go to good causes. I do sometimes wish we could put aside ethics for a bit to kick shams like this in the teeth…

I dnt want to hate but I have one and have noticed the change I have more energy and my sleep is way better also by back is straight and before you say it’s just the way I’m thinking well my back is always hunched and now it’s straight I can’t explain it but i must have a better brand or somthing and by the way it’s not 90 bucks more like 19

“Was” pretty amazing. After reading your articles any benefit he was getting is more than likely gone. So while it might have been worth his money before, now it is probably not. Educating the masses about scams isn’t the answer. More effort into making laws to punish these groups is the only thing that can work imo, even then it will never be stopped. Without a way to stop it imo leave the uneducated the way they are. If I had the science to prove to you why your education wasn’t worth the money and how better off you could have been doing something else instead would you want to see it and be upset about it for the rest of your life? If I had a list of all the car repairs you have ever paid for with information that proved you got used parts instead of new and there was nothing you could do about it at this point, would you want to see the list and be upset about it, or would you prefer to not know at this point, feel safe in your vehicle and have the confidence that you make good decisions and are hard to rip off? I don’t mean to sound “anti” because I enjoy your articles but you have a education in science, your stating alot of facts that many would not know without furthering their education in science after high school and there is just too much knowledge out there. Unless you go get a phd in everything there is someone out there that can rip you off. Sure I can’t sell someone like you a power bracelet that attracts women, but when you come to me because your knee hurts, I can sell you just about anything I want to and you will buy it because you won’t understand anything that I’m saying about why your knee is hurting and it will all sound logical. Also keep in mind, what I prescribe you will more than likely make your knee pain go away, wether it be medicine or sugar pills… If the sugar pills work, should I tell you what they are so they will stop working? Would you prefer to get the same pain relief from a pill thats made of sugar or a pill that can also destroy your stomach lining and thin your blood?

“Yes, the placebo effect is pretty amazing, as is confirmation bias, but not worth your money.”

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About the Author

Kyle Hill is a science writer and communicator who specializes in finding the secret science in your favorite fandom. His work has appeared in Wired, The Boston Globe, Scientific American, Popular Science, Discover Magazine, and more. He is a TV correspondent for Al Jazeera America's science and technology show TechKnow.